


The Bridge

by Shalana



Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shalana/pseuds/Shalana
Summary: After all the ordeals he’s faced, Rick manages to find his way back home but discovers he has a certain aversion to crossing bridges and gets help from an unlikely friend.
Kudos: 3





	The Bridge

**Author's Note:**

> Written pretty quickly after the idea came to me cause I just adore these two and miss seeing them on screen together.

Rick continued to stare straight ahead. It’s the middle of the damn apocalypse for God’s sake. After all the crap he went through to get back to Alexandria, to Michonne, Judith and now R.J... this... this is what would break him. He could feel himself starting to hyperventilate but he hid it well. 

“Rick?” Michonne asked quietly with a look of concern.

“Yeah, no I’m fine.” Rick replied hastily. “I just need a second. Bathroom break.” he supplied before she can inquire further.

“Okay, do you want me to wait?”

“No, no. You guys go ahead. I’ll just be a minute.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.” She frowned before turning to the rest of the group. 

“Let’s keep on ahead.” 

“You alright?” Daryl asked.

“Yep, I’m fine.” He seemed to be saying that a lot lately. 

Rick slowly walked into the tree line watching the others get further away.

Negan, who happened to be at the back of the flock noticed Rick’s slightly odd behaviour. He goes to follow the other man subtly when Aaron catches him.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” he hissed.

“Just need to take a leak. Damn, you’d think I was going to plot someone’s murder.” Negan joked with a Cheshire grin and his tongue between his teeth.

“Leave him.” Carol called out. She looked between the two men and nodded at Aaron.  
“It’s fine. He won’t try anything. He knows better. Besides if he wanted to he woulda done somethin’ already.”

Aaron huffed, looking back at Negan with a glare.

Negan wiggled his fingers in a mocking goodbye.

“We’ll meet you on the other side.” Carol said giving Aaron a look to follow.

“Will do, boss la...” Negan trailed off at the look she gave him. “Right.”

Waiting to make sure they had gone he trudged off in the direction he saw Rick headed.

____________________________________

Rick was breathing heavily. He had wandered far enough from the path that he felt comfortable dropping the facade.  
He began to tear at the buttons on his shirt before slipping his hand under the material. He pressed his fingers into the healed wound on his side, remembering what it felt like to be impaled. He breathed deeply hoping that it would help quell his sudden panic attack.

“It’s just a bridge. It’s just a bridge. It’s just a bridge.” he kept whispering to himself.  
He leaned heavily against an old pine tree, his back sliding down the bark soothingly until he hit the ground.

How the hell am I supposed to keep doing this, he thought. I can’t be like this around the others. There will come a time when they need me to have their back and I can’t keep having these panic attacks.  
It wasn’t until he heard a branch snap a few feet behind him that he shot to his feet.

“Woah, easy there tiger! It’s just lil’ ol’ me.” Negan faced the other man with his hands held up, Lucille slung across his back.

“Damn. I’m sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt alone time.” Negan raised his eyebrows at the state Rick’s clothes.

“Shit, must be crowded livin’ amongst people now, eh? Kiddos running around all the time. Can’t catch a fuckin’ break.” Negan joked trying to get a rise out of him.

After a few moments of tense silence his face turned serious. Looking Rick over, he noted the younger mans harsh breathing and the dampness of his skin even though it was surprisingly cool for a Virginia afternoon.

Putting his intuition to the test he ventured a guess at Rick’s current train of thought. Remembering what he’d heard about the Alexandrian leaders’ supposed death he put two and two together.

“You can’t cross it.” he stated bluntly.  
He expected Rick to deny it, argue with him, or even fight him but he what he wasn’t expecting was the other mans quiet acceptance.

Rick looked slightly surprised at the guess. He shook his head nonetheless, again surprised at his admission to Negan of all people. His hair fell into his eyes. “N-, no...no.” he whispered quietly.

Negan nodded. “That makes sense.” He thought for a moment, absorbing that information. 

“Damn, sheriff. After all I’ve see you go through I didn’t think there was anything that could phase you.”

“Yeah, well, it looks like we were both wrong.” Rick conceded. “And it’s sheriff’s deputy.”

Negan laughed. “Alright cowboy. What do you say we take a stroll across this here river, just you and me?”

“What do you want Negan? Why are you here?”

“Well to answer your question Ricky, I’d sure as shit hate to see a badass such as yourself be thwarted by a couple a goddamn concrete slabs suspended over some frigid fucking water.”

When that wasn’t enough to garner a response, Negan continued in a quieter tone.

“And... you’ve been through hell and back to get to your family. Those kids need you. Fuck, the man I fought back in the day wouldn’t let shit get between him and the people he loved. Let alone a fucking death trap like the one waiting for us back there.” Negan gave a soft laugh.

“Too soon?” he asked playfully. “C’mon deputy. We don’t got all day.”

Rick looked up at the man who he once considered his enemy before shaking his head. He gave a curt laugh before moving towards Negan. 

“Yeah, alright.” Rick buttoned you his shirt again. “I can do this.” he whispered to himself.

“Atta boy, Ricky. I knew you had it in ya!”

The two shuffled their way back through the dense brush single file.

Of course because this was Negan, the silence couldn’t last more than thirty seconds.

“Who da thought? You and me, Negan and Ricky, walking side by side. No animosity. No fighting. No death threats.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself there. I may be trying to cross a bridge but that doesn’t mean all that happened between you and me is water under it.” 

“I’m hurt, Rick. You know I’ve been looking after those kiddos like they were my own.”

“That’s what has me worried.” Rick muttered.

“In case you’re forgetting, I had a chance to work with the enemy and help those fucking skin freaks destroy everything your people built. But I didn’t do that. Did I? Fuck no, instead I brought her head back at the request of one of said people and prevented a whole mountainous pile of shit from falling on them.”

“Yeah, I heard about all that. I suppose you deserve some credit for it.”

“Wow. Thank you for the fucking Rick Grimes seal of approval.” Negan spat sarcastically continuing his rant.

“And to think I actually came out here to fucking help your ungrateful ass. I mean why did I bother? Clearly you still fall solidly on the list of people that hate my guts.” Negan’s demeanour was tense and angry.

Rick stopped walking. He watched Negan carefully.

“What?! Gonna lay into me some more?! By all means. Not like anything’ll ever change around here.” the taller man hissed.

“No, Negan. I don’t wanna fight with you. I just—“ Rick cut off not knowing what to say.

He tried again. “ I just didn’t realize how much you cared what people thought.”

“Yeah, well, it gets a bit difficult when you’re stuck in the same shitty 50 square miles with a bunch of people that wanna stick a knife in your back.” he sighed resigned.

“I don’t hate you.” Rick started tentatively.

“Excuse the fuck outta me? What was that?”

Rick rolled his eyes. “I don’t hate you, Negan. At least not anymore. I mean I did before, but you’re right. You have protected my family and our home. What happened with Glenn and Abraham —“ he noticed the former Savior leader flinch at the mention of those names “That’ll never be okay with me. But I won’t hold that over you forever. Hell, I’d argue that you’ve more than proven that you’ve changed. If it makes you feel any better I’m not solidly on the list of people that hate you.”

“You bein’ serious right now Rick? Or you talkin outta your ass cause you feel bad?”

Rick huffed a laugh. “No. I’m being serious. In fact...” He took a breath.

“Thank you. For protecting the people I care about when I couldn’t. For being the bad guy that they could hate even when you didn’t deserve it, this time. For taking the difficult path when, like you said, you could’ve fucked off and watched them burn. Thank you for being what they needed, even if they couldn’t admit it.”

Negan’s face was carefully blank but his eyes were bright showing exactly how much those words meant. 

He smiled playfully again but there was sincerity behind it. “Careful Rick. People might actually think you like me.”

There it was. “Yeah, okay.”

Rick took a deep breath, looking down the path. They had made it back to the bridge.

“I — I don’t know if...”

“Shut up. You’re doing this. Now c’mon.”

Rick followed Negan to the edge of the path where the concrete began.

“Just focus on me. Don’t look down. Don’t think about it. Just listen to my smooth fucking voice and focus on the other side, where the rest of em’ are waitin’.”

“Hell, at least there aren’t any horses having fucking tantrums.” Rick flinched, but Negan continued before he could settle on that thought. 

“I mean, I tried the whole horse thing as a means of transport and let me tell ya, those fuckers are moody as shit. You know how many times the little — well giant — bastard tried to kick the shit outta me. I was ready to kick him back. But then, you wouldn’t believe, the lil munchkin’ comes riding up talkin bout how it’s all about having a bond or some shit with the animal. Like what hell am I supposed to do with that? It’s not like we speak the same fuckin’ language. How the hell do you communicate with those assholes. I mean dogs, I get. I am a dog person. I like dogs. They don’t try to kick me and I sure a shit won’t kick a puppy but horses are another ordeal entirely.”

Between Negan’s ramblings about the community, excessive cursing and dramatic hand gestures Rick was shaking his head and laughing every once in a while at something absurd the older man had done. 

“Well how about I teach you, once we get a few days off.” he offered.

“I don’t know. I don’t think horses like me much.” 

“I’m sure it just because they sense you’re nervous Negan. It just takes practice.”

“Easy for you to say, cowboy. You grew up in Georgia. That shits in your blood.” 

“Well, I promise to give it the good old southern try then.” Rick laughed harder. 

“You mean that Rick?” When he nodded in affirmation Negan clapped once.  
“Alright then, fuckin’ A.”

It was only when Negan stopped walking that Rick paused and hadn’t even realized they’d reached the other side. 

He looked back astonished at the distance they had crossed before turning back to Negan.

The older man had a smug smile on his face. “Didn’t even realize, did ya?”

“No. I didn’t. I guess that wasn’t so bad. It was worse imagining it in my head than just doing it.”

“Glad I could help...again. Just — if we’re keeping track.”

“Yeah, I’ll add it to my list.” Rick snorted. 

“How did you learn to do that?” he asked after a moment.

“I used to help some of my students the same way. Kids understand better when you show them rather than try to talk shit to death. It’s just easier.” Negan looked away.

“I bet you were a great teacher.” Rick offered genuinely. “Probably got reamed at staff meetings and PTA interviews for cussing in class and being too lax with the students, but a good teacher nonetheless.”

Negan couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Goddamn Rick. You read me like a fucking book.”

Rick laughed as well, enjoying Negan’s company more than he thought he could. 

“I just call em’ like I see em’.” The two shared a grin before reality interrupted again.

“Rick!” he whipped around hearing his name. 

“The hell happened?! Where you been?” Daryl came storming down the path. Aaron and Michonne followed but hung back a ways.

“Here we go.” Negan muttered under his breath.

“He try something? Cause if he did —“

“No, Daryl! He didn’t do anything. He actually helped me out with something.”

Daryl looked disbelievingly between Rick and Negan.

Negan for his part, looked away from the hunters intense stare, his cheeks turning a slight pink as he scratched at his beard.

“It’s all good?” Daryl asked.

“It’s all good.” Rick replied evenly. 

“Alright, come on. We just finished moving some debris out of the way.” Michonne spoke from over the hunters shoulder.

She made eye contact with Rick and he gave a subtle nod that all was really well. 

She nodded back before moving to walk in line with Rick. 

Looking over his shoulder, Rick met Negan’s eyes offering him a small smile. “Let’s go.” 

Negan grinned back in his usual way but there was a small hint of appreciation in his hazel eyes. “Whatever you say, sheriff.”


End file.
